Colin McCahon - Styles - Religion

Religion

McCahon shows religious undertones to his work by giving the landscape an essentially spiritual element. One method by which he does this is by stripping the landscape bare, showing influence of Cotton's book Geomorphology of New Zealand, especially in works such as Takaka: Night and Day. This work also shows religious undertones by the use of symbolism through light (light and dark; good and bad). Another method is by placing a scene from a religious narrative in a New Zealand setting (for example Crucifixion according to Saint Mark), and bringing the Bible into the contemporary world.

Another manifestation of his religious themes is within his 'Necessary Protection' series. This group of artworks presents the Muriwai coastine as a source of spiritual nourishment. McCahon encourages his audience to conserve the local ecosystem as a means of maintaining or producing a meaningful spiritual interaction with the landscape. The land is also presented as lesson for the maturation of the human soul.

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